How I grew a housemate, and other stories
Last Wednesday Chris (my boss and the owner of the house I'm currently living in) wandered past my desk and mentioned that there might be someone moving into the house soon. Last Thursday, I got an email from somone saying 'I'm moving in on Saturday, what's the best way to get hold of keys?'. One of the things I'm really looking forward to when I move out is the fact that I won't get new people living here on two days notice...
Other than the sudden appearance of a new housemate, we'd planned a Hallowe'en party on Saturday, so on Friday Cat came round to help decorate. The idea was that to provide a suitably spooky feel we'd cover the walls and ceiling of my room and the living room in bin bags, and then cover that in cobwebby stuff. This took a leetle longer than anticipated- after about four hours we'd got my room finished and the living room bin-bagged, and decided to retire to the bath and finish off in the morning. The first thing that woke me up in the morning was the crrrk sound of sellotape slowly peeling off the wall, followed by a flump as another section of the decorations collapsed. We tried to ignore it, but eventually it got to the point where breathing without inhaling a mouthful of spiderweb was slightly problematic, so we had to root out the sellotape (and, after I got annoyed with it, the gaffer tape) and put everything back up again. We intended to get up afterwards, but (as people that know us won't be surprised to hear) didn't quite make it.
Next thing I knew, there was a ring on the doorbell as the new housemate arrived. Fortunately he seems like a nice guy, and wasn't too phased by the fact that the house was in a fairly interesting state, or that I was stumbling around in my dressing gown- he's just finished university so he's used to that kind of thing.
We spent the afternoon wandering round town picking up more decorations, pumpkins and booze, and getting a succession of messages from people saying that they'd just noticed that they couldn't make it (even I'm organised enough to know whether I'm busy on a given date, dammit). Getting home with all our stuff was a struggle- next time I'll remember about home delivery before going on a big pre-party shop.
So, the evening rolled round, I carved my very first ever pumpkin, and just about remembered some kind of costume before people starting arriving.
On the subject of costumes, I was a bit rubbish- I ended up failing to do much and just wore the big cloak that I made for last year, but Cat was a great Bride of Frankenstein, aef turned up as Sweeney Todd, complete with pie, and redkitty23 showed up as a spooky dead Japanese girl (which apparently freaked out a couple of acid heads on the bus quite considerably). Also present were the elusive Emerson, Marcus & Olga, Chris T. new housemate, Polish Guy T. less new housemate, and Laura...
The parties went as parties do- despite the fact there were a few less people than anticipated there were just the right amount for lots of fun, drink was drunk, music was played, and bits of it I don't remember that well. I've got some photos I'll post once I've determined which people don't mind having photies on t'interweb. I think it was not far off dawn when the last people left.
On Sunday morning we actually got up! We made it as far as the bath again, and decided that was quite enough movement and the rest of the day was best spent back in bed armed with cups of tea and a selection of DVDs.
Then it was Monday. Mondays suck...
Other than the sudden appearance of a new housemate, we'd planned a Hallowe'en party on Saturday, so on Friday Cat came round to help decorate. The idea was that to provide a suitably spooky feel we'd cover the walls and ceiling of my room and the living room in bin bags, and then cover that in cobwebby stuff. This took a leetle longer than anticipated- after about four hours we'd got my room finished and the living room bin-bagged, and decided to retire to the bath and finish off in the morning. The first thing that woke me up in the morning was the crrrk sound of sellotape slowly peeling off the wall, followed by a flump as another section of the decorations collapsed. We tried to ignore it, but eventually it got to the point where breathing without inhaling a mouthful of spiderweb was slightly problematic, so we had to root out the sellotape (and, after I got annoyed with it, the gaffer tape) and put everything back up again. We intended to get up afterwards, but (as people that know us won't be surprised to hear) didn't quite make it.
Next thing I knew, there was a ring on the doorbell as the new housemate arrived. Fortunately he seems like a nice guy, and wasn't too phased by the fact that the house was in a fairly interesting state, or that I was stumbling around in my dressing gown- he's just finished university so he's used to that kind of thing.
We spent the afternoon wandering round town picking up more decorations, pumpkins and booze, and getting a succession of messages from people saying that they'd just noticed that they couldn't make it (even I'm organised enough to know whether I'm busy on a given date, dammit). Getting home with all our stuff was a struggle- next time I'll remember about home delivery before going on a big pre-party shop.
So, the evening rolled round, I carved my very first ever pumpkin, and just about remembered some kind of costume before people starting arriving.
On the subject of costumes, I was a bit rubbish- I ended up failing to do much and just wore the big cloak that I made for last year, but Cat was a great Bride of Frankenstein, aef turned up as Sweeney Todd, complete with pie, and redkitty23 showed up as a spooky dead Japanese girl (which apparently freaked out a couple of acid heads on the bus quite considerably). Also present were the elusive Emerson, Marcus & Olga, Chris T. new housemate, Polish Guy T. less new housemate, and Laura...
The parties went as parties do- despite the fact there were a few less people than anticipated there were just the right amount for lots of fun, drink was drunk, music was played, and bits of it I don't remember that well. I've got some photos I'll post once I've determined which people don't mind having photies on t'interweb. I think it was not far off dawn when the last people left.
On Sunday morning we actually got up! We made it as far as the bath again, and decided that was quite enough movement and the rest of the day was best spent back in bed armed with cups of tea and a selection of DVDs.
Then it was Monday. Mondays suck...